The Smart Specialisation Strategies (S3) Conference 2023 is the first in a series of events that the European Commission's Directorate-General for Regional and Urban Policy (DG REGIO) is organising for S3 stakeholders from across regions in EU Member States. It will take place on 30 March as a full-day online event to be broadcast live from a Brussels-based studio, and will be opened by the European Commissioner for Cohesion and Reform, Elisa Ferreira. The audience will have the opportunity to ask questions using interactive tools.

The conference will also be the launch event for the new S3 Community of Practice (S3 CoP), whose Secretariat is joined by ERRIN. The S3 CoP is DG REGIO’s source of support and knowledge sharing on the implementation of S3. It builds upon the decade-long experience on S3 design, implementation and monitoring.

Interested ERRIN members and other actors are invited to join S3 practitioners, experts, policymakers, and other key stakeholders to discuss Smart Specialisation and debate on the S3 role in driving local economic development and EU priorities. Together with speakers from the European Commission, managing authorities and governmental bodies implementing S3, coordinators for granted projects under the Interregional Innovation Investments (I3) Instrument, S3 experts, as well as the S3 CoP Secretariat, and the OECD, the Conference will highlight:

• the support provided by the new S3 CoP, such as working groups, expert groups, targeted support activities as well as event and online tools;
• a policy debate on win-win opportunities for local economic development and EU priorities from experts and regional practitioners;
• interesting complementary initiatives that foster interregional cooperation and innovation investments such as the I3 Instrument and the European Innovation Ecosystems. Furthermore, DG REGIO ongoing work with the OECD shows how foreign direct investment can support local SMEs ecosystems.

Please find the official invitation attached. More details, including the agenda and registration, can be found on the official conference website here.

During the S3 Conference on 30 March, two Calls for Expression of Interest to join three S3 CoP Working Groups (WGs) and Expert Support Database will be opened. Each of the WGs will focus on a different fulfilment criterion of the enabling condition “Good governance of national or regional smart specialisation strategy”: Innovation Diffusion, Industrial Transition and Interregional Collaboration. ERRIN members are encouraged to apply to use this opportunity to give feedback and help shaping the smart specialisation strategy framework going forward from their regional ecosystems' perspectives.